Stronger, Louder, Together!
Learning Disability England has been working in partnership with Turning Point.
We have made a guide to help people with learning disabilities, their families and support staff understand DNRs.
Read more “DNR: A guide for understanding your rights and challenging decisions”
Learning Disability England members representatives have written a blog about the findings of abuse following an ‘inadequate’ CQC inspection that was published on 23 September of Yew Trees, a private Assessment and Treatment Unit.
In July Gary Bourlet wrote a blog about Self Advocacy working together through Covid 19 (you can read it here).
Simone Aspsis got in touch to say she thinks Self Advocates have not been able to lead enough campaigning so we agreed to host a blog from her on her thoughts on campaigning during Covid.
In a week where the Joint Committee on Human Rights has published its report about COVID, Gary Bourlet, Membership and Engagement Lead and self advocate reflects on Human Rights and Brexit.
Read the easy read version here
As you may know on December 31st, we left the EU. This raised some questions for me about how our human rights will be affected next year.
The Human Rights Act 1998 was passed with cross-party support by parliament; it does not belong to any one particular political party.
Our Human Rights Act takes 16 of the human rights in the European Convention on Human Rights and pulls them down into our law here at home.
Probably due to all the attention that’s been on COVID-19 there has been very little media coverage about what the government is doing around these laws as we leave.
It’s so important that we safeguard our human rights when we leave the EU.
Read more “We need to protect Human Rights in our post-Brexit world”
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has published its report about COVID-19 this week.
The Chair of the Committee, Harriet Harman MP QC said:
“As we approach the Coronavirus Act’s six-month review, there are a number of concerns that the Government must urgently address. ”
DNR quoteRead more “JCHR Report on the Government’s response to COVID-19”
Annual Health Checks: making them work!
Wednesday 7th October: 2 – 3pm (on Zoom)
This free webinar will give people the chance to hear about great work that is being done by self advocates, family carers, commissioners and providers around the country to help make Annual Health Checks really work
The #right2home campaign is developing an online tool to guide people on how to challenge COVID-19 restrictions to visiting loved ones in inpatient settings, residential care and supported living.
If you are facing restrictions and can help test the tool, please email liliane.broschart@bemix.org, ideally taking part in an online workshop using Zoom from 12.30pm to 2pm on Monday 28th September, or in your own time.
Video blog (VLOG) from Gary Bourlet, Membership and Engagement lead and self advocate
This month’s VLOG is all about what is happening with the work on Good Lives 2020.
Good Lives started in February 2020 to bring people together to discuss what a Good Life for people with a learning disability looks like in this new decade and work together to take action.
Learning Disability England Members Submission
The House of Lords have set up a ‘Life after Covid’ inquiry.
They are asking lots of people and organisations to tell them about what’s changed because of Covid.
They are going to look as the evidence everyone sends in.
Guest blog by Ben McCay, self advocate, Learning Disability England spokesperson and Co-Chair of the Trustees for My Life My Choice
I am Ben McCay and since birth I have had hidden disabilities.
Most people think of disabled people as in wheelchairs. But the fact is there are many forms of disabilities and it varies from each individual person.
People with hidden disabilities get discriminated against all the time when they are out about mixing with the general public, as they do not know that we are disabled. We are often thought of as rude and ignorant, that we do not care.
This typical general perception is true of most people we meet.
Guest Blog by Jessica Finch, a worker with KeyRing’s self advocacy service in North Yorkshire
Hi I’m Jess. I work for the KeyRing self-advocacy service in North Yorkshire. I help people find the confidence and opportunity to speak up.
I see it as working together with people to achieve a common goal.
I love what I do. I especially love going out and meeting people so lockdown has been a tough time. Working from home can get a little bit lonely and, like the rest of the team, I’ve had to be really creative about working with people.
Read more “Reflections on supporting self advocacy during lockdown”